Manchester United manager talks about Pogba, Smalling injury update

The drawn out nature of Juventus and France midfielder Paul Pogba is sending media in a tizzy so much so that Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was asked questions about the midfielder after Wayne Rooney’s testimonial match.

United have already signed the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly in this window.

When asked on Pogba, Mourinho said: ‘‘I don’t want to speak about Paul because he’s a Juventus player, and I don’t like other managers to speak about my players, and I don’t speak about their players. We are going to sign one more player, that’s for sure.”

”But the reality is that we are going to sign one more player, as you know the market closes on August 31, so we have plenty of time to do that, but obviously I’d like to do it before the season starts.”

According to The Telegraph, Manchester United are on the verge of announcing an agreement to sign Pogba after already having zeroed in on a fee with Juventus and there is optimism from United’s side that the announcement might happen before the Community Shield clash against Leicester City on Sunday.

The report claims the Red Devils want to announce the deal before Pogba undergoes a medical, signs a contract with the the Old Trafford club and the formalities are concluded.

Juventus have already decided to give the much coveted number 10 jersey of Pogba to Dybala. To fuel the fire, Adidas stores in Paris are already selling the Juventus #10 jersey with Dybala on the back. But, on Juventus site and Pogba still listed as No 10 and Dybala 21. So, it is dubious.

In another good news, according to Physio Room, Chris Smalling is expected to be available for Community Shield match against Leicester, after his ankle injury lay-off. Mourinho confirmed the England international picked up a minor injury and that saw the central defender miss out on the friendly fixtures against Galatasaray and Everton.

Smalling will miss the Premier League opener against AFC Bournemouth for the red card he received in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace last season.